Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 01-04-12 08:49
The reincarnation of a scholar
During the reign of Emperor Xiao Zhu Youdang (孝帝朱祐檔 1488AD to 1505AD)
of the Ming Dynasty (明朝1368AD to 1644AD), there lived an old scholar in
the city of Fuzhou (福州), the capital of Fujian province (福建省). He had
passed the County Examinations and the Prefectural Tests while he was in
his teens . Since then, he was so unlucky that he failed to pass the Prefectural
Examinations, which was held in Fuzhou city every third year, even though
he had tried his best in every attempt. He was near his seventy when he sat
for the previous examination.
Although he was unsuccessful in all his attempts, he did not give up studying,
in fact he studied harder. Thus he became a man of great erudition.
Since he had passed the County Examination he was able to become a teacher
for elementary students. He was a very poor teacher and had a wife and a
son. His son did not follow his footstep to become a bookworm, instead he
became a farm labourer.
Life was a disappointment for him. After his seventieth birthday he lost
his vitality to study and he became feeble. One day, he was very ill and
he knew that he was going to die. He wrote a poem as epilogue and told his
wife to gather all his literary works, and instructing her to put them in
a box and store them away carefully. He died that evening.
Fifteen years later, there was a brilliant young lad in the county of Shaoxing
(紹興縣) in Zhejiang province (浙江省). This young lad passed his County
and the Prefecture Examinations at the age of fifteen. Within a short period
of five years he passed the Provincial, Metropolitan and Palace Examinations
as well as the Final Examinations in the Imperial Court. The Emperor appointed
him as the Imperial Examiner for the province of Fujian. His literary works
were widely read through out the country. He conducted many Provincial Examinations
since he arrived in Fujian province.
One day, the academicians, the Governor and many local gentry held a banquet
in his honour. It was his birthday and he had a good time with all the fine
foods and drinks. He was a bit tipsy when he returned to his boathouse that
evening. After giving order to his guards not to allow anyone to come to
the boat he went inside the cabin for a nap.
It was in the deep of night when he woke up to do his toilet. After that
he could not go back to sleep as he had enough rest. The moon was shining
brightly on the river, so he decided to leave the boat and went for a stroll.
He changed into ordinary clothing and took an attendant with him. While
on land, they were aimlessly walking along a lonely path.
Suddenly he heard some one crying lamentably from a village nearby. Being
curious about the bemoaning in the middle of the night, he followed the
sound of wailing to the village and arrived at a thatched cottage. He told
his attendant to knock at the door which was not locked. So he entered the
cottage and saw a very old white-hair lady kowtowing to an altar.
He asked, " Why are you crying so pitifully?"
The old lady replied, "Today is the anniversary of the death of my deceased
husband and my son was supposed to offer sacrifices. But he has gone to
a distance place and cannot come back in time to pray, that is why I have
to offer the sacrifices at midnight. I have no food and wine to offer to
my late husband but water and wild herb."
He asked again,
"Who was your husband and how long had he been dead. If you don't have the
food and wine why don't you postpone it until tomorrow?
The old lady replied,
"My husband was a scholar. But he was so unlucky that he could not become
an official as he failed to pass the Examinations which were higher than
County Examinations. Today is the fifteenth day of the ninth moon which
is also the twentieth anniversary of his death and I cannot delay it until
tomorrow."
Upon hearing the old lady he was struck and stunned as he was born on this
day twenty years ago.
He asked her,
"If your husband was a scholar he must have left some literary works behind.
May I have your permission to look at them?"
The old lady showed him all the works written by her husband. He was amazed
to read the first essay which was word for word exactly the same as the
essay he wrote for the County Examinations. He read through all the essays
and discovered that the essays were the same as those he presented for his
Prefecture, Provincial, Metropolitan and Palace Examinations. Even the subjects
he gave to the candidates for the Examinations were among those essays.
He read the poem of epilogue and found the lines,
"For seven decades I have lived in this cottage.
In spite of studying for my whole life time, I failed to pass the examinations.
When I return in my next life I shall not be a frustrated person.
You will achieve fame and glory that I had failed so miserably.
Our identities will be found in the essays."
After reading the poem he realized the whole situation. He began to recall
the familiarity of this cottage. He asked the old lady the where about of
the old man's bed and his old table. Tears welled up in his eyes as he saw
the old bed and the table. The old lady was surprised to see him crying
and enquired what had happened to him. He told her that he was the reincarnation
of the old man.
The old lady told him, "I am now over eighty years old. Twenty years ago,
before my husband died he mentioned to me that he would come back in life
the second time after his death. So I bit him on his leg to make a secret
teeth mark as an evidence."
He took off his boot and showed her the teeth mark on his left leg. On seeing
the mark she cried prevalently. He consoled her that he had been rewarded
for what her husband had failed to achieve and promised her that he would
provide her with comfort.
Soon it was dawn and the son returned. She introduced him to her son and
related the whole story. The son was happy to see his father coming back
in life the second time and wanted to call him father. But he disagreed
with the son as he reasoned that it was his previous life that he was the
father.
He bought many acres of farm land and built a big house for the mother and
son who got married soon after.
After the Provincial Examinations were over he was transferred to Beijing
(北京). However, once in a blue moon he came to Fuzhou to visit her and
her son.
Written by a scholar called Sha Zhangbai (沙長白) who lived during the Qing
Dynasty (清朝1644AD to1911AD) and abridged by CHUNG Yoon-Ngan
Posted to Overseas Chinese Forum at asiawind.com
By CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
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